"They're good for places you can't use airships," Tyki said, giving a bit of a smile. He'd only been on a train once or twice, and had spent the bulk of the journey staring out of the window at the landscape whizzing by. "They're still a bit of a novelty out in Überwald."

Places like Gralea and Cartanica had been linked by rail for years. Including the more backwoods towns and cities in lands the Empire had quietly claimed as their own was necessary, or the people there simply wouldn't accept their rule. They barely did anyway, with some not acknowledging their inclusion at all, and others deciding that it made no difference whether they were left alone with a distant ruler, or left alone without one. So long as nobody tried to micromanage the villages, towns and outposts, there'd be no uprisings.